Insufficient child care and early learning opportunities present significant barriers for the 1.7 million parents attending community colleges today.

A new five-year initiative from the National Head Start Association and the Association of Community College Trustees aims to help by bringing more Head Start centers to community college campuses throughout the country.

Last week, the University of California and California State University systems joined a growing list of schools to give applicants extensions on their intent to register now that colleges won’t get federal financial aid data until at least March.

At least 25 schools will no longer require commitments by May 1, since they may not be able to send admitted students financial aid offers until April. A few schools have created new aid forms or processes on the fly to award their own grants and scholarships.

Javier Estrada is a full-time student at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon. He also works 15 hours a week as a package handler for FedEx. But last month’s ice storm meant Estrada wasn’t able to work as usual, and he missed out on vital income to pay for his housing and food.

Estrada found a lifeline at MHCC, which provided emergency funds through its Office of Basic Needs. Estrada hopes his story will help push forward a state bill to pump more state money into college basic needs programs.